Blood Crave 2 by Jennifer Knight Page B

much too easy. He wasn’t even putting up a decent fight. I smiled, smelling victory. I licked my bottom lip, giving him my best smoldering gaze. One leg wrapped around his waist, and that was all it took. He grumbled something that sounded like screw it and began kissing me. Only this time, I dodged.
    “Wasn’t there something you wanted me to tell you?” I asked between his lips.
    He made a deep throaty sound that was half arousal, half warning.
    It was all I could do not to make a fist-pump into the air. I loved winning when it came to us.
    “Are you sure?” I asked, doing my best to keep my voice innocent while my body told a totally different story.
    “Shut up and kiss me back.”
    “But then I can’t tell you my news.”
    “To hell with your news.” He began pulling my shirt up.
    I laughed, pulling it back down. “You’re too easy.”
    “You’re too evil.”
    “I know. But seriously, I want to tell you what Yvette said.”
    “You brought this on yourself.” He pried my hand away from my shirt and brought it all the way past my chest.
    “Lucas!” I gasped, pulling it back down again.
    He growled at me.
    “Bad dog,” I said with a nervous laugh. “Don’t make me knee you in the crotch.”
    Defeated—for the moment anyway—he collapsed heavily on top of me, muttering swear words.
    “Lucas,” I panted. “Can’t. Breathe.”
    He rolled to the side, still fingering the hem of my shirt as though waiting for me to lose focus so he could whip it off.
    “Fine, fine,” he grumbled. “But make it quick. I have big plans for this trigger-stopper thing you can do.”
    “Maybe do,” I qualified.
    “You did it in the silver room,” he said.
    “That’s because ... well, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” I gave him a brief recap of how I’d discovered that Yvette was like me, and that she and Rolf were like, link-mates or something. And that we were, too, or so it seemed.
    “Apparently each person with the sense has a werewolf match,” I said. “And with that werewolf, the connection is so strong that they can control them even when their human. That’s how I was able to save you in the silver room. Because you’re my match.” I beamed at him.
    Lucas’s face betrayed his amazement, and for a long while, he was silent. “Wow,” he muttered at last. “I—ah, I don’t know how to feel about that, exactly.”
    That hadn’t been the reaction I’d wanted. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, I was already a little iffy about you controlling me when I’m changed. I was only okay with it because it protected you and it could keep me from doing some bad stuff. But controlling me when I’m human? That seems like a little much.”
    “But I’d never use it to make you do something you didn’t want.” I didn’t mention that I’d accidentally done it last night. Thankfully, he hadn’t even noticed. It had been a mistake. One I would never let happen again if I could manage to stop it.
    “I don’t know, Faith.”
    He looked so upset about this—so the opposite of what I’d wanted. Why wasn’t he seeing the positive side here? And then I remembered: “You can block it,” I said at once. “Yvette said it takes practice, but you can keep me out. So if you ever get ridiculously stubborn about something and don’t want me to try and sway you—not that I ever would—you can stop me.” Well, I wouldn’t use my power to sway him. I’d use my other charms, which, I was happy to say, were in excellent working condition. Go me.
    Lucas chewed on his bottom lip. “Well, I guess that’s okay. We’ll practice with it sometime.” He tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear. “It’s not like you can stop it. I’ll just have to trust you.” He gave me an adorable half smile. “If you can trust me not to change around you, I can trust you not to abuse your power over me.”
    “Deal.”
    “Odd,” he said, still smoothing the lock of my hair in his fingers. “There’s